Counting Stars
by Caillieach
Summary: Cor is used to working together with Drautos. They are equals and it happens often enough that they have developed some sort of a working relationship. But when they get stranded in the wilderness of Duscae after an accident and with Drautos injured and acting weird, Cor is left feeling unsettled and very much confused.


**Disclaimer:**

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, here: Square Enix. Any possible future original characters & plots are my own. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended. I do not earn money with this.

* * *

In hindsight, it hadn't been his best idea to just up and go take over an imperial airship in the midst of battle, Cor mused, as he saw the deep green hills and treetops of Duscae rapidly and uncomfortably growing closer and closer through the window screen while he clung to the pilot's chair's leather armrest – or where the pilot would normally sit –, trying to stay on his feet despite the turbulences and his knuckles clenched white.

"Not one of your best ideas, hm, Leonis?" a gruff voice huffed next to him, echoing his exact thoughts back at him. He frowned at the underlying amusement in that voice. There was nothing amusing about their current situation … although he could admit that no, it definitely wasn't. No use in questioning things he couldn't change anymore though. Cor shot Titus Drautos, the hulking Captain of the Kingsglaive, a distinctly unamused look before fixing his gaze back onto the disaster waiting to happen. Were those branches he could make out there? He wasn't quite certain, the sun hung low on the horizon already, afternoon slowly giving way to evening, and it forced him to squint his eyes to see at least something.

Definitely branches, Cor decided. Not good. Slim as the possibility was, he let go of his support and staggered over to the control station with as much dignity as he could muster in a glorified tin box hurtling none too gently to its death. Finding a little purchase on the dashboard, he made a last-ditch effort to try and wrangle the airship upwards again even as it was increasingly gaining speed downwards. He'd really rather avoid taking a nose-dive in an imperial airship of all things, thank you very much. He had had too many close calls so far but having _'took an ill-advised dive in an airship' _written on his tombstone was not how he wanted to be remembered. The ship's controls wouldn't budge though and in all honesty, Cor hadn't expected them to. They had engaged one of the approaching enemy ships in order to stall them as long as possible when it had landed a lucky hit on theirs causing a loud explosion in the back of the ship. It had been rather hard to ignore, especially as the cockpits lights immediately began to flicker only to die out a few minutes later.

"Well, as ill-advised as this has been, at least we managed to stop those Niff ships from reaching the Glaives. Although this is not exactly the outcome I was hoping for", grunted Drautos, clinging to one of the control panels as white-knuckled as Cor himself even though his voice sounded as calm as at any given time, which honestly, Cor admitted silently to himself, was kind of amazing given that they were hurtling to their very likely deaths with no way out.

With a put-out sigh Cor ignored Drautos' attempt at getting a rise out of him and gave up on trying to get a sign of life out of the controls. "This is hopeless. We should try and make our way to the back. We'll be dead if we stay here. If we survive the initial crash, we may be able to get out through the cargo bay."

The look Drautos shot him then was distinctly undecipherable, but the man loosened his grip on the panel and began to make his way towards the back of the ship as fast as possible in an out-of-control airship trying to kiss the ground such as theirs. It might be petty but a tiny part of Cor was very satisfied that Drautos was staggering just as much as he was. Shoving the underlying tension? Rivalry? that had been there since they first met back into the depths of his mind, he focused on reaching the cockpit door in one piece. They were lucky that at least the ship's stabilizers hadn't been damaged in the battle, Cor thought as he followed the larger man, or the ship would probably spin on its axis in addition to the uncontrolled descend that was happening now. Not even he would survive that, his reputation of being immortal be damned. He huffed an almost silent laugh at that.

"You know, I always expected to die somewhere in the wilds or maybe in a Niff base on a mission, alone. I never imagined this."

The tall man in front of him stopped for a moment, cool green eyes studying him over a broad, leather-clad shoulder. "What, the company not to your liking?" Cor startled. He hadn't realised he'd said that bit out loud. "I…no. I just never…thought it would be a possibility. The Crownsguard and Kingsglaive rarely work together, much less getting deployed together. Figured the chance was slim to none." Cor resumed his way, keeping his left hand on to the wall in case he needed to find purchase. "Company could be a lot worse, though."

Drautos eyed him, gaze inscrutable, but said nothing when he passed by him in the narrow corridor before he made to follow. Cor could feel the Captain's intense gaze burning on the back of his head but did his best to ignore it. He had more important things to worry about at the moment. Like trying to survive this so he could add the situation to his already overly long CV of _'moments I should have died but didn't' _.

Further ahead a glowing red exit sign above a dreary grey metal door marked the entrance to the cargo bay. Cor felt a tiny part of the pressing ball of worry behind his sternum uncoil a bit. They had made it. And just in time too, he thought, by his estimation and judging by the speed they had been going at earlier and the distance to the ground they'd probably crash any minute now.

Luckily for them, Cor was pleased to discover that at least that particular control panel still worked so they didn't have to waste precious moments trying to kick the door in. Said door opened with a hiss and Cor saw Drautos loosen his grip on the hilt of his sword from the corner of his eyes. Apparently he had been ready to do the kicking. Well, there was no need for it now.

The comparably large but mostly empty cargo bay lay open before them. All the MT's which were usually stored in here must have been deployed before the two of them had taken the ship over, he noticed. All the stations were empty.

He dearly hoped that their manoeuvre had bought the Glaives some time. They may not be his responsibility but he knew a fair number of them, most notably among them Glaive Lazarus and Glaive Ulric as the second respectively third in command to Drautos, but he still hoped that casualties could be kept to a minimum. It didn't matter that they were not his soldiers, he loathed the unnecessary and senseless loss of life in this damned war. For a brief second he wondered how Drautos was feeling, knowing that he'd essentially left his Glaives behind leaderless.

"Come on, we ought to find something to hold on to, it will be a rough landing." Drautos shouted just then, trying to drown out the cacophony of screeching sounds that was the damaged machinery in the ship's belly beneath their feet. "And stay away from those crates, they won't hold and are probably full of weaponry."

No sooner had he said that, the ship rumbled beneath their feet, lurched and with a mighty groan of bending metal crashed into the ground.

It all happened so fast that Cor didn't have time to grab onto something or to process what was happening. Amidst the pandemonium of tearing and screaming metal and just moments before he hit what must have been the wall, he felt two strong arms wrap around him and then he knew no more.

* * *

Cor came to consciousness slowly and for a long moment, he did not know what had happened. His thoughts felt muddled and slow and his ears rang, drowning out any other sound, kind of trapping him in his head during his slow descend to awareness. It was the smell of burning metal that triggered his memories of the crash with a vengeance and, running purely on instinct, he tried to sit up. He groaned as his entire body protested any movement and his sad attempt at sitting up only served to radiate a dull pain throughout his torso. Slowly breathing through the pain, he could taste hot, smoky ash on his tongue. But as laborious as it was, he _was _still breathing. So he had somehow survived. Good.

Through the fog of disorientation and confusion in his brain he realised that his eyes refused to focus. _'Must have hit my head…' _. He could make out shapes but everything was blurred, distorted. It made him uneasy. Such a giant crash as theirs wasn't likely to go unnoticed and if an enemy happened to find them? They were unlikely to be able to defend themselves.

Cor startled terribly when the knowledge that he hadn't been alone came back to him. _Where was Drautos? Was he okay? _As much as he wanted to go look for the Captain right away, he knew that he had to take stock of his injuries first. Being unable to even sit up didn't bode well for him. He also didn't know if Drautos was injured or even still alive and if he was, he would be of no help if he keeled over himself because he didn't take care of his wounds first. Concentrating, Cor slowly sank back into himself. He felt heavy as if submerged deep in water. Deep water with surprisingly sharp somethings digging into his back, he thought.

It took him a little while but eventually, he succeeded to twitch his fingers a little. A pained groan escaped him. As if his body remembered all its nerve endings at once, the until then rather dull pain flared up and slammed into him, momentarily leading to white hot stars dancing on the inside of his eyelids. Cor sucked in a desperate breath to calm his racing heart, trying to deal with the pain...and promptly choked on another painful groan as his ribs protested the movement of his expanding lungs. He must have fractured at least one of them, probably more in the crash, Cor thought only half aware. Trying to even out his breathing, he concentrated on continuing to take stock of his body... He ached and felt bruised all over. His ribs protested each too deep breath in steady bursts of pain and his back hurt, probably due to the uneven ground he was lying on but other than that ...he felt remarkably good considering the circumstances. Well. Not too bad, then. He could work with this, he had survived far worse.

Stealing himself, he managed to sit up with a pained grunt. The bright rays of the setting sun hurt his tired eyes but Cor was relieved to notice that the shapes surrounding him were just a little less blurry than before. Good, so his vision was coming back. He decided to count that as a small victory. His body protested something fierce when he tried to make it onto his knees very carefully, but his instincts screamed at him to survey his surroundings. So he carefully breathed through the pain and did just that. Or at least as much as he was able to given his less than ideal eyesight at the moment. Gingerly cradling his ribs, he took in the carnage surrounding him, now rapidly becoming sharper, distinguishable as his vision cleared.

'Six, how did I survive _that _?'

The airship looked as if Titan himself had torn it apart, its machinery grotesquely resembling entrails spilled onto the ground from a torn open belly of a beast, steel beams rearing up towards the sky as if they were ribs cracked open. Cor winced. Taking it all in, he felt the not unfamiliar gratefulness of having survived a brush with death yet again. He should be dead by all means. But he wasn't. He'd have time to marvel at that later. Right now he had more important things to do. Like finding the Captain.

His voice felt hoarse and gritty and failed him on the first try. Clearing his throat, he tried again.

"Drautos..?"

No answer. Cor frowned. That was not a good sign.

_'Well then, looks like I'll have to look for him the old-fashioned way.'_ Bracing himself against the pain he knew would steal his breath again, Cor staggered to his feet. He swayed in his place, dizziness momentarily blinding his vision again. His ribs let him know exactly what they thought about moving and he cradled them again, carefully, even as he tried not to faceplant into the ground again. That wouldn't do. Squinting his eyes against the lengthening shadows, he summoned his trusty katana from the Armiger. As loathe as he was to use it that way, he needed something to keep him stable on his feet and having a weapon at hand did serve to make him feel more secure.

Determined, he took the first step leaning heavily on his katana, aiming for what he thought to have been the cargo bay. Then another. And another.

_'Hold on, Drautos, I'm coming for you.'_


End file.
